Watching Chris Sorensen, a 25-year-old Luxembourger riding for Saxo Bank, suffer through his solo breakaway in the final half an hour was something any cyclist who has climbed a long hill could relate to. With doping apparently out of the picture, the pros are starting to show real pain again, and that’s good for the sport. Early on in his break, when Sorensen bridged the gap to catch the much more comfortable-looking Simone Stortoni, it looked like he’d blow up and get dropped. Instead you could see his teeth grind and his face clench as he gritted out his own breakaway and took the win.

More disappointing was a lack of pressure from anyone in the leader pack. The overall classification pretty much remained stable in a setting where things could have been shaken up a bit. But someone’s going to have to make a move at some point, given the close gaps in the general classification.